ABSTRACT
Guadeloupe is an archipelago of inhabited islands near the southern part of the Leeward Islands. The ancient fishermen of the Arawak Indian tribe were the apparent original inhabitants of the islands of Guadeloupe several hundred years before Christ. The Compagnie sold Guadeloupe to Charles Houel, who started the major economic growth of the island with plantations of sugar, coffee, and cocoa. During the eighteenth century, Guadeloupe was a favorite base for buccaneers and pirates. On March 19, 1946, Guadeloupe was changed from a colony to a French Overseas Department. The first topographic surveys of the interior of Guadeloupe were performed by the Royal French Army Topographic Engineers from 1763 to 1768. The paucity of reliable cartographic works proved to be unfavorable for the continued economic development of the island. In 1946, Principal Hydrographic Engineer Roger Grousson led the Mission Geodesique de la Guadeloupe to establish a new coordinate system for the colony.
